Smoke generators have been used to train personnel as observers of visible emissions in the opacity of smoke generated from smoke stacks produced by industrial nations since the early 1950's, which smoke generators have had little or no improvement to their basic design. However, during the 1960's an improved version of the smoke generator was manufactured to eliminate the use of gasoline engines to make white smoke. Since that time the design configuration of the smoke generator has not been changed to any appreciable degree. A patent search revealed there was, on no account, a patent granted by the U.S. Patent Office for a smoke generator as described in this prior art discussion.
The Prior Art cited below is made of record and is not relied upon in this application as being of interest as follows; it may be said that the prior art cited below teach-away by using smoke to obscure the vision or to hide equipment and personnel in a field of battle, where, our invention teach personnel as observers of visible emission in the opacity of smoke generators as per CFR 40Part 60, Appendix A, Method 9.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,985 Date of September, 1997 By Heng, Ping-Fa        U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,191 Date of December, 1994 By Herman et al.        U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,536 Date of June, 1994 By Rogers et al.        U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,115 Date of October, 1989 By Hessey, B Russell        U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,660 Date of August, 1988 By Swiatosz, Edmund        U.S. Pat. No. 2,369,568 Date of February, 1945 By Herbline}        
Presently prior art smoke generator systems (1) use a dedicated pull van (3) to transport the smoke generating system (3) on a two-wheeled trailer (8) to various locations to provide a mobile means of bringing the training environment to personnel in the U.S.A., including industrial nations around the world. This means of transportation requires that the electronics set-up time, and the calibration of instruments be repeated at each new location taking excessive time and a great deal of effort.
FIG. 1, shows top isometric view of the prior art smoke generator system (1) comprising an open trailer (2) carrying the mechanical components necessary to generate white and black smoke (6), a photocell assembly (26) to measure the smoke (6) opacity with electric power cables (24) and (25) connecting to a pull van (3) control room (5) showing the operator (9) at the controls who changes and records the opacity of the smoke (6) during the training of personnel.
FIG. 2, shows an enlarged isometric view of the trailer and its components for generating black and white smoke comprising a two-wheeled trailer (8), a white smoke burn box (10), a black smoke burn box (11), an upstream ducting (12) arrangement to the centrifugal blower (15), a down stream ducting (13) to the centrifugal blower (15), a smoke stack (7), a fuel storage tank (17), a storage box (18), and electric generator (19), and photocell assembly (26).
FIG. 2A, is an enlarged sectional view showing a photocell assembly (26) protruding through said stack (7) with a filter (16). Said filter (16) is used to calibrate said photocell assembly (26) against the opacity differences of the smoke (6) generated during the training session.
The prior art method used to generate white smoke exiting the smoke stack (7) caused the smoke to pulsate rather than providing a smooth transitional flow of smoke, which created difficulties during calibration of the smoke opacity. These difficulties arise with the pulsating characteristics of the present centrifugal blower (15), the said pulsating effect causes difficulties in calibrating the smoke opacity.
The prior art centrifugal blower (15) is inefficient in that it requires a high horse power motor, which is costly to operate.
The photocell assembly (26) shown in FIG. 2A is slotted pipe with the photocell positioned at the far end of the pipe and the receiver positioned at the opposite far end of said pipe. The pipe runs across the smoke stack (7) diameter creating turbulence and a non-uniform flow of smoke (6) across the smoke stack (7) diameter. Changing the filters requires the smoke stack (7) be lowered 90 degrees at the hinge pivot to the horizontal position, and a wand is then inserted into a slot of the photocell assembly (26) to replace the filter (16) for calibration. This prior art process is cumbersome and time consuming, including the operating personnel having to work within a soot filled smoke stack (7).
Our patent search for a smoke generator system (1) dates from the early 1950's showing that, to date, a patent has never been applied for, nor has a patent been applied for in the design improvement of said smoke generator system (1).
The above prior art discussion is based on personal experience with the actual operation of the prior art smoke generator systems (1), and the publications which are provided herewith in a Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) in accordance with 37 CFR 1.97.